


Bullseye

by hmweasley



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Sports, Archery, M/M, Malec Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 08:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15263616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: Magnus has just transferred colleges when he spots an attractive boy in his Chemistry class. Luckily, his friend Catarina knows a couple of things about Alec Lightwood, including that he's a member of the archery club.





	Bullseye

**Author's Note:**

> So... Malec Week began on July 9th, and this was definitely supposed to be up then. I never participate in "weeks" solely because I'm always behind and don't realize they're happening until they're already halfway over. This time, I knew in advance and was determined to participate, but life was life, and here we are with the first prompt days late.
> 
> I still have every intention of completing all the prompts, but needless to say, they'll all be late. In the meantime, there's day one with the prompt "Sports AU". I've chosen archery because... Well, I don't actually like sports, and it seemed fitting. Fair warning though, everything I know about archery came from three sources: Mortal Instruments/Shadowhunters, the Hunger Games, and a one week unit in high school PE.

Transferring schools for your junior year might not have been the rarest of choices, but Magnus felt like he needed to justify the decision by making his time at his new school excellent. So far, things weren’t shaping up too badly. He was feeling good when he arrived at his second Chemistry class of the semester.

The first person he’d noticed when he’d walked into the class the week before had been a girl with striking blue hair, and he hadn’t hesitated before taking a seat beside her. He quickly learned that he’d made a good decision. Not only was she incredible at chemistry, but she was nice enough to help him along too. It may have only been the second lesson, but Magnus was confident that Catarina Loss was going to be his new best friend.

He had become so enthralled in his conversation with her before class that he almost didn’t notice the boy sitting by himself on the other side of the classroom.

“Why didn’t I notice him last time?” Magnus muttered to Catarina, openly staring at the oblivious boy. “There’s no way he was here. I’d have remembered him. He wasn’t here last time.”

Catarina rolled her eyes at Magnus’ attempts to convince himself he wasn’t an idiot.

“He wasn’t here last time,” she agreed. “And that’s Alec Lightwood, just so you know.”

“Lightwood. I’ve heard that name.”

“I’m sure you have.”

Catarina leaned in to whisper.

“The Lightwoods are important alumni at Idris University. You’ll be sick of hearing about them before long. Everyone in the family has gone here. Alec’s sister and adopted brother are both freshmen this year. They have their name on more than one building. I don’t think the school has a larger donor than them.”

Magnus pressed his lips together. The boy was gorgeous, but if he were that loaded, Magnus wasn’t too optimistic about his personality.

“How do they screw people over to make all that money then?”

Catarina shrugged.

“They don’t bother mentioning that when they’re announcing the name of the new library, but it’s probably something boring, like stocks or a business no one’s ever heard of that still somehow rakes in a ton of cash.”

Now that he knew a little about the boy, he didn’t want to find him as attractive as he did. As he watched, Alec shifted in his seat, and Magnus somehow found the move so attractive that he sighed, prompting Catarina to roll her eyes.

“He’s gorgeous,” Magnus whispered defensively.

“He also doesn’t talk to anyone but his siblings,” Catarina said, sounding apologetic. “And I’m not exaggerating. I’ve been in classes with him before. People try to hit on him all the time because of who his family is, but he’s never dated anyone. People talk about it.”

Magnus hummed, tapping his chin.

“Interesting. I do appreciate a challenge.”

* * *

 

The dining hall was hectic at meal times. Magnus wasn’t a fan of it. The food wasn’t good, and anything halfway decent was taken immediately. He still ate there everyday because of his mandatory meal plan, but he didn’t like doing so.

Except, of course, when he could spot good-looking classmates in the crowd. You could learn a lot about someone by watching them in the dining hall. He’d picked up on that quickly in college. The trick was finding them in the sea of people, especially when you had no way of knowing what time they ate dinner.

For all Magnus knew, Alec Lightwood didn’t bother with his meal plan at all.

He did, as it turned out. Magnus spotted him in record time standing by a shorter blonde boy as they piled several slices of meatloaf each onto their plates. Magnus cringed at the sight. Alec’s dinner choices and family connections weren’t helping him, but everything else about him was.

The boy’s smile made Magnus’ stomach twist, and as he watched, they were joined by a brunette who Magnus instantly knew was his sister because of how similar they looked. Alec’s smile turned gentle, and he hugged the girl briefly before lifting a slice of meatloaf to her plate for her. Magnus’ heart skipped a beat.

Two throats clearing brought Magnus back to his own table. Catarina looked amused, but Ragnor was scowling as if he were genuinely annoyed that Magnus had gotten caught up in staring at someone. He’d probably said something he thought was profound and was irritated that Magnus hadn’t bothered to listen.

Magnus would have been the first to admit that he’d originally hung out with Ragnor Fell purely because Catarina seemed cool and she was already—for reasons Magnus had been unable to fathom—friends with the boy. After the first week, though, Magnus had begun to discover reasons for keeping Ragnor around. The largest of those was that he was surprisingly fun to argue with.

“Yes?” Magnus asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Ragnor rolled his eyes, tossing a disapproving look towards the table where Alec had settled down with his friend and sister. There were others sitting there too, but Magnus couldn’t see any of them well from their vantage point.

“He looks like a rich jock,” Ragnor stated.

Magnus raised his eyebrow higher.

“Why the disgust?” he asked. “Have jocks personally offended you, Ragnor? Besides, I don’t know if he plays any sports or not. All I know is that he’s gorgeous and that he’s taking a chemistry class. Maybe he’s planning to be a scientist.”

Ragnor snorted into his burger.

“That’s an intro science course, Magnus. That’s why you’re in it. If anything, it proves he’s not a chemistry major. He’d be done with that course by now if he was.”

“Let’s find out then.”

Magnus pushed his chair away from the table. As he walked away, he could feel an amused Ragnor watching him.

He knew one of the people Alec was sitting with, he realized as he approached: Clary Fray. Her mother had paid Magnus for various work before when he’d needed the money. She’d been someone he could count on to find the most random of tasks for him when she knew he needed the help but didn’t want to feel pitied.

He’d known Clary was at school here and had spoken to her on campus a handful of times, but he hadn’t expected her to be friends with Alec. There were some extra points in Alec’s favor. It at least cancelled out his dinner choices.

“Hello,” Magnus greeted the table as a whole before letting his eyes zero in on Alec.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Alec’s sister smirking, but Alec merely shifted uneasily under his gaze. Magnus had a brief thought that perhaps he should have observed the boy a bit more before he’d swooped in. Ragnor had goaded him a little too much.

“Magnus!” Clary said brightly. “Nice to see you.”

Magnus tore his gaze from Alec long enough to offer Clary a smile, but his eyes quickly found their way back.

He was about to speak when Alec stood from the table.

“I need to go,” he stammered, nearly dropping his tray when he tried to pick it up. “Test to study for.”

He reached for the same dropped napkin three times before his sister took it and laid it on her own tray, offering him a smirk. Alec stammered out a thank you, cheeks pink, before he hurried away. Everyone watched him leave, Magnus included, but, he realized when he turned back, he’d watched far longer than anyone else.

“What can we do for you, Magnus?” Alec’s sister asked, resting her chin in her hands as she leaned forward on the table.

There was something about her attitude that made Magnus like her instantly. If her brother hadn’t been unbelievably gorgeous and hadn’t just become adorably flustered, he might have been interested.

“Nothing really,” he said, smiling easily. “I just wanted to say hello to Clary. It’s been a while.”

“It has,” Clary agreed. There was a sparkle in her eyes that hinted she knew he was lying, but she wasn’t upset by it. “We really need to make plans.”

“We do,” Magnus said. “I’ll call you.”

He waved as he went back to his table, making a mental note to call Clary later and invite her to something. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said that it had been a while.

When he made it back to his own table, Ragnor was laughing hard enough to turn his face red, and even Catarina wasn’t able to keep a grin off her face.

“You either picked a straight one or an in-the-closet one,” Ragnor said, relishing the thought. “He couldn’t get away fast enough.”

“He’s not,” Catarina rushed to say. “Straight or in the closet, I mean. At least, I don’t think he is. His sister Isabelle was in my Sociology class last semester, and when we discussed sexuality, she mentioned having a gay brother. I’m pretty sure she meant Alec and not the blonde one.”

Ragnor shrugged, quickly losing interest in that particular possibility.

“You figuring out how to have a conversation with him?” Ragnor asked, leaning forward. “Good luck with that. I don’t think he wants to talk to you.”

“I think I overwhelmed him,” Magnus admitted. “But if I could talk to him somewhere more private.”

“Where exactly? You don’t have anything in common with him. Where are you going to talk to him that isn’t public?”

“I do know one other thing,” Catarina admitted. She was tapping her fork against her tray and hesitated before continuing. “He’s in the archery club. I saw him working their table at the activities fair a few months ago.”

“Thank god you pay attention to things, Cat.”

Magnus wanted to bounce up and down in his chair as he took in the information.

He tested the sound of it on his lips.

“Archery. That’s attractive.”

“Still doesn’t help you,” Ragnor pointed out. “I’ll go ahead and guess you’ve never held a bow and arrow in your life.”

Magnus didn’t dignify Ragnor with a response.

* * *

 

“You what?”

“I signed up for archery club,” Magnus repeated, looking Catarina straight in the eyes and daring her to laugh at him.

He’d purposefully told her when Ragnor wasn’t around to mock him. Since he’d gone to the club’s president and signed the form to join, he’d been self-conscious about the decision, and he needed an ego boost to assure him that he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself.

“Magnus,” Catarina said slowly, “you don’t know how to do archery.”

He shrugged as if the same thought hadn’t been on his mind.

“They take people at all levels. Cecily, that’s the president, says they do competitions with other schools, but those are optional. If I want, I can just practice with them, and she said they don’t care how good or bad I am. Their goal is to spread a love for archery, not just win. Her words exactly.”

Catarina blinked several times.

“Does she know that you’ve literally never tried archery before?”

“Yes. She does. I was very upfront about it.”

“Not entirely upfront I’m guessing. She thinks you have a genuine interest in archery, doesn’t she?”

“I do have a genuine interest in archery that happens to include boys who like archery. That’s why I joined.”

Catarina sighed and patted him on the shoulder.

“Here’s hoping you don’t make a fool of yourself, Magnus.”

He really hoped so too.

* * *

 

Magnus’ heart stuttered in his chest when he saw Cecily’s name on the caller ID of his ringing cell phone. It was Cecily, not Alec, he had to remind himself. He felt bad for associating the girl so much with Alec that he could only think of the boy as he answered her call.

“I figured you’d like to practice one-on-one before your first meeting with everyone,” she explained once they’d gone through the usual greetings.

Magnus had forgotten already that he’d be expected to actually do archery at some point. Unless he called the entire thing off and pulled from the club, but at this point, he thought Cecily would be disappointed if he called it quits.

“There’d be less pressure that way, and you could get some pointers. I wanted to help you myself, but my workload is pretty crazy this semester, so I asked my vice president if he’d do it.”

“Oh.”

Magnus’ interest was piqued, but he tried his best not to fish for a name.

“He’s agreed. Said he’d meet you in the gym tomorrow at five.”

“That’s nice of him,” Magnus said, already thinking about what he could wear that was cute and appropriate for archery. Just in case.

“Who should I be looking for in the gym then?”

“You’ll find him easily enough. He’ll be the guy with a bow. But his name is Alec.”

Magnus let out an unseemly noise that he very much hoped Cecily was unable to hear from the other end of the line. Judging by her giggle, his hoping was in vain.

“He’s very cute and very single,” she said.

Magnus couldn’t help but laugh.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Have fun learning archery.”

He could hear the smile in her voice, and Magnus thought he might stick around in archery club no matter how things went with Alec. He quite liked Cecily.

* * *

 

Magnus strutted into the gymnasium as if he wasn’t about to make a complete fool of himself. At least he looked good. He’d put more effort into his outfit than archery warranted. He was a little worried something might tear at an inopportune moment. He wasn’t sure how physical archery got, and his pants were tight, but it was a necessary risk.

Cecily was right that Alec would be easy to spot. He was the only one in the room, and he was lining up a shot with his back to Magnus, allowing Magnus to watch him without being spotted. He approached silently, watching as the arrow made contact with the bullseye.

“So you’re actually good.”

Alec spun around, eyes wide.

“You,” he stammered, making Magnus smirk. “Cecily just said there was someone new. It’s you?”

Magnus held a hand to his chest.

“Should I be offended? Do you think archery is too lofty of a sport for me to attempt?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.”

Alec couldn’t get a sentence out without stumbling over the words, and Magnus relished it as he stepped closer.

“I’m ready to learn.”

Alec stared at him for a second, and Magnus thought he might flee. But then he nodded and straightened his shoulders. He held out the bow he’d been using to Magnus before leaning over to pick up an arrow for him.

“Let’s see what you’re able to do on your own first,” Alec said, some of his composure back.

It was Magnus’ turn to be flustered. He fumbled with the bow and arrow, not sure how to hold the arrow against the string. Alec repositioned his hands, making Magnus’ skin tingle as he almost dropped the arrow. This was going to be harder than he’d imagined.

When he let the arrow go, the result was more embarrassing than missing the target. The arrow only made it halfway before it fell to the ground.

“You need to pull the string back further.”

Magnus pulled a face as if he didn’t need to be told that, but he didn’t argue. Truthfully, he liked having Alec tell him what to do. He was fine putting up with it for the rest of the evening or longer if things worked out.

“Why don’t you actually guide me then?” Magnus asked.

Alec raised an eyebrow before he realized what Magnus meant. His eyes grew wide, and he took an unconscious step back.

“Oh, no,” he stammered. “No, that’s only a movie thing. That’s not how we actually teach people.” He cleared his throat. “You’re much better off learning how to aim by yourself.”

Magnus smirked.

“What if I want you to help me?”

Alec swallowed.

“Why are you learning archery?”

Magnus had half a mind to toss the bow aside as he abandoned all pretense.

“Because you’re in the club.”

“And?”

Alec was adorable when he blushed. Magnus could have looked at him forever. The only thing that made it better was being the cause of it too.

“You’re extremely attractive,” Magnus said bluntly, relishing the way Alec grew redder and couldn’t look him in the eye.

After several seconds of silence had passed, Magnus continued.

“If you don’t like me, then I’ll go ahead and leave, but if you do, I’d like you to teach me how to shoot please.”

Alec made eye contact with him again. For a second, Magnus wasn’t sure what he’d do, but he came to a decision and threw himself into it full force. Magnus almost gasped when Alec moved around him, coming up behind him and guided his arms into the correct position.

He talked him through the whole thing, hands touching him seemingly everywhere as he got him into position, and when Magnus let the arrow fly, it landed slightly off the bullseye, not embarrassingly far from where Alec’s had landed earlier.

“Congratulations,” Alec said in his ear, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“That was all you.”

“Which is why I told you to do it yourself.”

Magnus turned his head to look at him with a smirk.

He felt really good about Alec Lightwood.


End file.
